ne of Cardiff’s best-loved pop-up-to-permanent street food businesses celebrates five years since opening its first restaurant this week, marking a major milestone in a journey that has taken founder Andrew Chongsathien from festivals and pop-ups to a second bricks and mortar restaurant in Bristol.
Brother Thai opened on Whitchurch Road on 8th July 2021, giving a permanent home to a brand that had already built a loyal following at festivals, markets and street food events across South Wales and beyond.
Now, five years on, the Cardiff restaurant remains a firm favourite, while Brother Thai’s second site opened in Stokes Croft, Bristol, on 9th April 2026; a full circle moment for a business that first began building a Bristol audience through regular trading at Harbourside from 2018.
For Andrew, the anniversary is not just a celebration of the restaurant itself, but of the people who helped Brother Thai grow from a gazebo and a queue into one of Wales’s most recognisable independent casual dining brands.
Brother Thai first popped up at The DEPOT in 2015, serving a more traditional Thai menu before Andrew began creating the flaky, melt-in-the-mouth rotis that would become the brand’s signature. In 2016, the first Sticky Spicy Beef roti was tested at Waterloo Gardens summer fete; the aim was to create a dish that was recognisably Thai, but expressed in a unique way.
From there, the rotis were born, and Brother Thai became a regular sight at Street Food Circus, The DEPOT, and various events, pop-ups and festivals across South Wales. The roti menu quickly stood out in a growing street food scene, earning Brother Thai the ‘Best Vegetarian Dish’ title at the British Street Food Awards in 2017 for a jackfruit and shiitake mushroom riff on the now infamous Sticky Spicy Beef.
By 2018, the brand was trading at the UK’s biggest food festival – Abergavenny Food Festival – and had also started appearing at Harbourside Market in Bristol, building foundations and a loyal fan base in the city that would later become home to its second restaurant.
Andrew Chongsathien, founder of Brother Thai, said:“Opening in Bristol this year was a huge step for us – and also a natural one; we traded there for years before opening, so to now have a proper home in Stokes Croft feels really special.
But we would not be here without the Cardiff crowd who backed us from the beginning, helping to turn our Whitchurch Road site into a buzzing neighbourhood favourite – lots have even travelled over the bridge to visit us there. This anniversary is as much theirs as it is ours!”
The Bristol Brother Thai restaurant, located at 104 Stokes Croft, sits in one of the city’s most creative food neighbourhoods, with their signature Thai rotis joined by rice bowls, small plates, cocktails, Andrew’s take on the famous Thai dish, Khao Soi – and other dishes that continue his original approach: big Thai-inspired flavours, served in a way that feels fresh, fun and unmistakably Brother Thai. The restaurant’s arrival has already been warmly received by Bristol food writers and influencers, with early reviews praising the restaurant’s confidence, atmosphere and attention to detail.
And for Cardiff – the milestone is also a reminder of the strength of the city’s independent food scene. Brother Thai is part of a generation of Welsh street food businesses that found their audience in pop-ups, markets and festivals before turning that grassroots support into permanent restaurants both in Wales, and further afield.
Brother Thai Cardiff is based at 35 Whitchurch Road, Cardiff, CF14 3JN. Brother Thai Bristol is now open at 104 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3FH.
